


The New Guy Under the Big Top

by Music_Magic_Mayhem



Category: Cartoon Therapy (Web Series), Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Circus, Contortionist Deceit, Firebreather Remy, German Wheel artist Remus, I hope you like this!, I posted this on Virgil's birthday so it counts, Knife Thrower Logan, Knives, Lion Tamer Virgil, M/M, Mentioned stabbings, Nudity? I guess? He's wearing a Speedo, Remus - Freeform, Remus being a dumbass, Ringleader Thomas, Tightrope Walker Emile, Trapeze Artist Roman, Use of the word yeet seriously, WARNINGS:, also
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21863971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Music_Magic_Mayhem/pseuds/Music_Magic_Mayhem
Summary: Virgil is the new lion tamer at Cirque de Sanders and he has no idea how much chaos he's in for.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Dr. Emile Picani/Sleep | Remy Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Comments: 9
Kudos: 42
Collections: Sanders Sides Secret Santa 2019





	The New Guy Under the Big Top

**Author's Note:**

> Big thanks to Ella and Alariah for betaing! Hope you enjoy

Virgil took a deep breath as he stared out over the chaotic carnival scene, squinting in the late afternoon sunlight. The lion tamer smiled as he breathed in the familiar smell of sweat, old peanuts, and animal feces. “Hello, there!” someone called from behind him. Virgil yelped, turning around. Behind him stood a man not much older than him, a concerned smile on his face. “Oh goodness me, I’m sorry if I startled you buddy!” The man in question said, “I’m Thomas, Thomas Sanders.” He held out a hand for Virgil to shake.

“Virgil Raine,” The younger man brushed violet bangs out of his face as he accepted the handshake, barely noticeably shaking himself. 

Thomas smiled. “You must be the lion tamer Joan was talking about, welcome to the family,”

“I wouldn’t say that so soon, you may not want to keep me around very long,” Virgil drawled.

“Not with that attitude, but maybe we can turn that frown upside down as I show you around, huh?”

Virgil raised an eyebrow. Positivity? Ugh. “Maybe,” he said lazily. The ringleader laughed.

“As you could kind of figure out, I’m the ringleader of this little group of misfits. My plan was to show you around and introduce you to some of the other performers. Sound good?” he asked. 

Virgil hesitated, looking at the hitched trailer next to him. 

“Do you mind if I bring someone along?”

“Sure?” Thomas said in confusion, “Do you have a partner or something?”

Virgil grimaced. “In a way. Just… Just don’t freak out, okay?” 

Thomas nodded as Virgil walked around to let down the gate. A beautiful, dark-furred lion exited the trailer, grumbling sourly as he shook out his mane. “This is Binx. My partner,”

Thomas gave a small squeal “Oh my gosh he’s so beautiful!” The lion purred at the praise. Thomas held out a hand towards him. “May I?”

“If he lets you,” Virgil said, running a hand through Binx’s dark mane. Binx head-butted the ringleader’s hand, making the man smile.

“C’mon, I’ll show you two around,”

Virgil followed Thomas around the outskirts of the camp, and eventually to a yellow trailer with black shutters. The older man knocked on the door. “Ethan!”

A tall, slim man with scars on the left half of his face answered the door, clad in a snakeskin bodysuit. He looked disgruntled, frowning at the pair. “What is it that you need, Thomas?” the man demanded. Thomas forced a smile, gesturing to the lion tamer.

“This is Virgil, our new lion tamer, and his friend Binx,”

He let out a small, “Hey,” at the sound of his name, holding out a semi-hoodie-paw-ed hand out to him.

Ethan raised an eyebrow, ignoring Virgil’s hand. ” “Charmed, I’m sure. Ethan Sawyer, though most of the others call me Deceit. I am sure Thomas will inform you why.”

Virgil gave a huff and used his outstretched hand to scratch the back of his neck. Thomas patted him on the back, the lion tamer flinching at the sudden contact. 

“Deceit is one of the local contortionists-”

“The best,” the snake-like man corrected.

Thomas gave him a deadpan look. “Well, we will leave you to… whatever you were doing before we interrupted you,”

Deceit nodded, closing his door with no sign of farewell.

“He’s…” Virgil started.

“An ass?”

“I was going to say ‘a character’ but, you know, that works too.” He looked nervously at Thomas, who winced as he turned away from the trailer.

“He certainly is. Deceit also works as a barker before and after the shows, which is why the others tend to call him… that. He basically moonlights as a scam artist.”

Virgil hummed, walking along with Thomas, as he flipped up his hood.” “So, where to next?”

As they walked, a man came screeching past in a German wheel.

Thomas made eye contact with Virgil, holding back a laugh.” “I think you know,”

Both of them giggled and ran after the screeching man, feeling like children again.

Eventually, the pair caught up to the man, who, to Virgil’s astonishment, was dressed in only a neon green speedo. The lion tamer stuttered, running a hand through his hair as his grey eyes widened. Thomas seemed unfazed next to him. “Hello ringmaster!” the man cheered as he straddled the large steel wheel, “Who’s the grape?” Virgil made an offended sound as he covered his dyed hair with his hands.

“This is Virgil, the new lion tamer. Please do me a favor and don’t scare him off with your…”

“Personality?!” The  ~~ practically naked ~~ acrobat offered as he did a flip on the wheel. 

“... That. Virgil, this is Remus, an acrobat who, as you can see, usually does German wheel.”

Remus grinned and waved like a loon from atop the wheel. 

“Nice to meet you,” Virgil said, removing his hands to play with Binx’s fur.

“I’m sure it was delightfully demented!”

Thomas sighed, “Remus, can you point us in the direction of your brother?”

The acrobat giggled.

“Ro-ro went out to see Rachypoo since she’s in town for opening night tomorrow,”

The terms the acrobat used made Virgil more confused. The ringleader shrugged next to him.

“I’ll make sure to catch him tomorrow. Anyway, have fun with… whatever you were doing.”

“I will!” he cheered “Ta-ta, dorks!” The man atop the wheel resumed his screeching and rolled away. Thomas groaned and put his face in his hands. 

“Ever since he told me what that meant, I can never get it out of my head.”

Making eye contact with Binx, Virgil quickly decided he didn’t want to know.

The pair continued along. As they journeyed, Thomas came across one of the two couples that had come together due to the circus. “Hey, babes,” the first greeted. “Remy Dormir, nice to meet you,”

“And I’m Emile Picani, his boyfriend. Do you how do?” the pink-haired one took over. 

Virgil froze. ” “I have no idea how to answer that question.” 

Thomas laughed beside him. 

“Remy here is a firebreather and Emile is a tightrope walker who doubles as the troupe therapist.”

Virgil grimaced. “Well, we might be seeing each other fairly often… Anyway, I’m Virgil,”

Thomas did the same introduction that he had twice before.

“Oh, so that explains the pussy cat,” Remy said, smirking like the sassy bastard he is. 

Virgil rolled his eyes, scratching at Binx’s fur. “He has a name,” he said tiredly. 

“Yeah, well. What is it?” he said blandly, looking bored.

“Binx, actually.” 

Remy quirked an eyebrow. “You named your feline friend after a dead kid from Hocus Pocus?” he drawled. Emile laughed, pulling Thomas to the side. 

“I like Halloween movies. So sue me.” 

Remy laughed, patting the lion tamer on the shoulder. Virgil flinched away from the sudden contact. The two bantered back and forth for a while until eventually Emile and Thomas came back. 

“Well, we should probably head on out to town if we’re going to have a date night,” Emile said. 

Virgil winced. “Sorry for interrupting you,” he said as he averted his eyes. 

“No, no, don’t apologize, it was great meeting you, Virgil. We’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Bye guys,” Thomas said, patting Virgil on the back again and steering him away. 

The lion tamer was led to a small building on the western edge of the carnival. A warning for cast and crew only to enter sat on the door. Virgil was about to turn around, but Thomas ushered him inside. A man in a pair of jeans and a polo shirt stood facing away from them, with what seemed to be a blue and black striped tie wrapped over his eyes. He had a hand outstretched in front of him.

Virgil scanned the inside of the building. It was mostly empty except for a target ringed by knives and holes at the far end.

Once it was obvious the apparent knife thrower was finished, Thomas called his name.

“Logan!”

The man whipped around, still blindfolded and threw a knife at a point next to Thomas’s shoulders. Where Virgil’s head was. 

The lion tamer yelped and with self-preservation instincts that could only be seen in someone with extreme anxiety, yeeted himself into the floor right before the knife would have embedded itself into his head. It thudded into the wall a second later.

The knife thrower, Logan, ripped off the blindfold to see a very startled violet haired man on the floor and Thomas pinching the bridge of his nose next to him.

“My apologies,” he said quickly, walking over and extending a hand to help the lion tamer up. 

Virgil accepted the hand and stood, brushing a hand through his hair, grey eyes sparkling and wary.

“Was that necessary, Lo?” an exasperated Thomas asked.

“You startled me, therefore fight or flight kicked in, you cannot blame me for that,” Logan explained, adjusting his glasses.

“Seems legit. I’m Virgil by the way.” Virgil stuck out g a hand out to the knife thrower. “Virgil Raine.”

Logan accepted it gently with an even gentler smile. “Logan Crofter, knife thrower, physics extraordinaire, and astronomy fanatic. I assume that you are the lion tamer of which Joan spoke?”

Virgil gave him a nervous smile. “That’s me. All good things, I hope.” He tangled his fingers into Binx’s fur.

“I believe they were, mainly about your immense skill with large animals, especially lions, which is something I would like to talk to you about sometime-”

“While that would be  _ great _ ,” Thomas interrupted, ” “I still need to introduce Virgil to Patton before he can settle in and it’s almost four. Where is your boyfriend, anyway?”

Logan blushed, averting his eyes,”I- uh- Patton should be in his trailer at this point, done with practicing,” the normally stoic man stuttered.

“Great, thanks!” Thomas proceeded to drag Virgil out of the building. The lion followed sleepily.

“Maybe next time?” Virgil called after Logan. Logan smiled and flashed a thumbs up.

Thomas tugged the lion tamer out of the building and off to a pastel blue trailer decorated with white and pastel pink hearts on the shutters. The ringleader knocked on the door.

A blonde man with a sweet, but exhausted, smile on his face answered, wild curls going everywhere. “Hey Thomas!” he greeted cheerfully.

“Patton!” Thomas cheered. The pair hugged. When they parted, Thomas gestured to the man next to him. “This is Virgil, he’s our new lion tamer.” Virgil rubbed the back of his neck, waving.

Patton then gave an adorable sneeze before looking down at Binx. “Kitty!” he squealed, sinking to his knees to give the lion affection. Binx purred, reveling in the contact.

“Pat, no! You’re allergic to cats,” Thomas laughed.

“It’s worth it.”

Virgil laughed, “He is pretty adorable, though I doubt Binx would want you getting sick.” The lion made a disgruntled noise at the comment, backing away.

“Anyway,” Thomas said, still laughing “Patton here is an aerialist who specializes in single hoop.”

Virgil went for the usual handshake he had attempted with everyone else, but to his surprise, got tugged into a hug. ”O-oh.” Virgil melted into it, burying his face into Patton’s shoulder.

“It’s so good to meet you kiddo!”

Virgil gave a shaky sigh and pulled away, blinking away what were hopefully unseen tears. “It’s nice to meet you too, Patton,” 

Thomas cleared his throat, obviously not wanting to interrupt the conversation. “Hey, I’m going to take Virgil to his trailer, so. Why don’t you go take some Benadryl, Patton?” The aerialist sneezed again.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. I’ll see you around, kiddo!”

“See, you latter, Patton,” Virgil said with hesitant happiness. Thomas led Virgil away, even as the grey-eyed man looked over his shoulder at Patton’s pastel trailer.

“Do you think you’ll need any help moving your things in?” The ringleader asked gently.

“Need? Probably not. But if you’re offering the help would still be appreciated,” 

Thomas nodded. “Of course,” the ringleader led the man to a lavender trailer with black shutters, new paint gleaming. Virgil stared in awe. “Uh, Joan heard it was your favorite color, so Patton, Logan, Roman, and I got together and had a painting party. I had it in my hair for a week, so I hope you like it.”

Virgil launched himself at Thomas, hugging him, “I love it. Thank you.” Startled, the ringmaster hugged him back.

“It’s not a problem, Virge,”

Later that night, Virgil attempted to sleep while curled into a ball on the tiny bed in the trailer. He missed the warmth Binx had provided when they cuddled together in bed, both lonely. Binx would have been there with his trainer, but Thomas had been adamant about not having animals in the trailer.

_ “It’s not just Patton’s cat allergy, I don’t want Binx eviscerating you in your sleep.” _

_ “He wouldn’t but go off I guess.” _

As Virgil laid awake, sleep lost without his best friend’s warmth, the screen door creaked open, a tired sigh coming from the doorway.

The lion tamer bolted up to see that a humanoid figure had made its way into his trailer.

Virgil screeched.

As he fumbled to click on the lamp, the humanoid gave an answering screech.

“What are you doing in my trailer?!” both yelled at the same time. 

The lion tamer got out of bed,”I’m pretty damn sure that this is  _ my _ place, so if you would ever so kindly  _ get out _ so I can  _ sleep _ , that would be fabulous,”

Now that the light was on, Virgil looked at a person who was definitely human, definitely male, and definitely  _ hot _ . He had auburn hair that shone red in the dim light and enchanting brown eyes that sucked Virgil in. The man tugged on the collar of his dress shirt. “Oh, oh god. I’m sorry, I thought this was mine. I should probably go…” the man paused and Virgil felt his heart pound in his chest., “I’m Roman,” the man blurted.

“Virgil,” the lion tamer responded, wrapping his arms around himself. 

“God, I made a fool of myself, I am so sorry. And you’re the new guy too,”

“It’s okay,” Virgil giggled. “It’s late, you should probably get to your own trailer.” 

Roman froze. “Right, right. It was nice to meet you, Virgil,” He said with a bow, ”I’ll take my leave and let you get some rest.” The short but slim man backed out of the trailer, a blush on his tan face.

Virgil sighed once the door closed behind the man, his own blush settling high on his cheeks. Now alone, he flopped back on his bed and clicked off the light. He didn’t know anything about Roman, but something about him made Virgil’s heart pound. The lion tamer grumbled and shut his grey eyes. He could have a gay crisis in the morning. Virgil slowly fell asleep with a smile on his face, ready for whatever craziness the new circus troupe threw his way.

Everything was going to be alright. 

**Author's Note:**

> THERE WILL BE MORE OF THIS DON'T WORRY


End file.
